Why is sulphur bentonite so much dearer in 2026 than the listed prices online?

Because 90% of the tonne is elemental sulphur, and sulphur went from roughly USD 100–150/t FOB Middle East in 2024 to USD 740–890/t in October 2026. Listings at INR 12,000–15,000 per tonne date from the old sulphur price. A current pastille offer has to cover the sulphur, the bentonite, pastillation, bagging and freight, so any price well under the sulphur quote is stale or not real.

Who buys sulphur bentonite in India?

NPK bulk blenders, fertilizer distributors in the oilseed and pulse states, and the domestic producers themselves when imported granules are cheaper than their own line. The buyer needs registration under the Fertiliser Control Order for the product grade it sells; a trader without that registration is reselling to someone who has it, and the desk asks who.

What specification do buyers contract on?

Sulphur 90% minimum, bentonite about 10%, moisture 1% maximum, pastilles 2–4 mm, plus a hardness figure and a dispersion or disintegration test in water. The last two separate a working product from one that looks the same and stays as a pastille in the soil for a season.

How does a Brazilian buyer take delivery?

CFR Paranaguá or Santos in 1 MT jumbo bags or 50 kg bags, cleared against MAPA registration of the product, with the sulphur and bentonite analysis on the COA. Demand is seasonal around soybean planting, so cargoes are booked for arrival from August to November.

Is prilled or granular sulphur a substitute?

Not for the farmer. Plain elemental sulphur oxidises over months in the soil because the particle has little surface area; the bentonite is what makes the pastille swell and break up in soil moisture within days. A blender can buy prilled sulphur as feedstock to make the product, but the field needs the bentonite grade.

Indian Ocean · India and Brazil

Sulphur Bentonite Buyers in India and Brazil

Three-quarters of the world's import shipments go to one country, and the price floor is set by elemental sulphur

Sulphur bentonite is a fertilizer product, so its market follows the oilseed and pulse belts rather than the acid plants that take elemental sulphur. India is the destination that matters: about three-quarters of recorded import shipments land there, most of them 90% granules from Gulf producers into Kandla and Mundra, and the country also makes its own, with Coromandel, Deepak Fertilisers, Aries Agro and National Fertilizers among the domestic suppliers that a cargo competes against. Indian trade listings for 90% material run from about INR 12,000 to 24,000 per tonne, a range so wide because it mixes stale offers with current ones. Brazil is the second seaborne market, pulled by soybean and corn demand in Mato Grosso, Paraná and São Paulo; the country imported a record 45.5 million tonnes of fertilizer in 2025, 10.9 million tonnes of it through Paranaguá, and was the world's fourth-largest elemental sulphur importer at about USD 363 million in 2023. On the supply side Tiger-Sul expanded its Saudi plant in 2023, Gulf and Indian producers share most of the capacity, and a 100,000 t/yr Aqaba project was announced by Jordan Phosphate Mines in 2023.

The point most buyers miss in 2026 is the cost floor. A tonne of sulphur bentonite is 900 kg of elemental sulphur, and elemental sulphur traded at USD 740–790/t FOB Middle East and USD 820–890/t on Gulf producers' contracts in October 2026, against roughly USD 100–150/t two years earlier. Any pastille offer well below the sulphur price plus bentonite, processing, bagging and freight is either old stock or not real. CBIL supplies 90% sulphur bentonite pastilles against COA and SGS verification of sulphur content, bentonite content, moisture, particle size, hardness and dispersion, in 25 kg and 50 kg bags, 1 MT jumbo bags and bulk, CFR Kandla, Mundra or Paranaguá, and asks a buyer for the blending plant or distribution area, the registration under the Fertiliser Control Order in India or MAPA in Brazil, the quantity per season and the payment instrument before a price is discussed.

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Also on this lane: Granular sulphur · Prilled sulphur

The market in figures

Import geography: India about 77% of recorded import shipments · Brazil about 5% · 17 importing countries
Indian entry: Kandla and Mundra · 90% granules from Gulf producers · one recorded Qatar lot at about USD 313/t for 250 t (pre-2026 pricing)
Indian domestic offers: INR 12,000–24,000 per tonne for 90% material on trade listings, 2025–26
Brazil demand: Fertilizer imports 45.5 Mt in 2025 (record) · Paranaguá 10.9 Mt · soybean and corn belts of MT, PR and SP
Brazil sulphur: 4th-largest elemental sulphur importer, about USD 363m in 2023; US, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar the main origins
Cost floor, Oct 2026: Elemental sulphur USD 740–790/t FOB Middle East · Gulf contracts USD 820–890/t · 900 kg per tonne of product
Supply: Tiger-Sul Saudi plant expanded 2023 · Indian producers Coromandel, Deepak, Aries, NFL · Aqaba 100,000 t/yr project announced 2023

Landed values are the importing country's declared CIF, not CBIL prices.

Questions buyers ask

Why is sulphur bentonite so much dearer in 2026 than the listed prices online?: Because 90% of the tonne is elemental sulphur, and sulphur went from roughly USD 100–150/t FOB Middle East in 2024 to USD 740–890/t in October 2026. Listings at INR 12,000–15,000 per tonne date from the old sulphur price. A current pastille offer has to cover the sulphur, the bentonite, pastillation, bagging and freight, so any price well under the sulphur quote is stale or not real.
Who buys sulphur bentonite in India?: NPK bulk blenders, fertilizer distributors in the oilseed and pulse states, and the domestic producers themselves when imported granules are cheaper than their own line. The buyer needs registration under the Fertiliser Control Order for the product grade it sells; a trader without that registration is reselling to someone who has it, and the desk asks who.
What specification do buyers contract on?: Sulphur 90% minimum, bentonite about 10%, moisture 1% maximum, pastilles 2–4 mm, plus a hardness figure and a dispersion or disintegration test in water. The last two separate a working product from one that looks the same and stays as a pastille in the soil for a season.
How does a Brazilian buyer take delivery?: CFR Paranaguá or Santos in 1 MT jumbo bags or 50 kg bags, cleared against MAPA registration of the product, with the sulphur and bentonite analysis on the COA. Demand is seasonal around soybean planting, so cargoes are booked for arrival from August to November.
Is prilled or granular sulphur a substitute?: Not for the farmer. Plain elemental sulphur oxidises over months in the soil because the particle has little surface area; the bentonite is what makes the pastille swell and break up in soil moisture within days. A blender can buy prilled sulphur as feedstock to make the product, but the field needs the bentonite grade.